Take Advantage of Special-Dividend Mania

Sell puts on stocks that are front-loading cash payouts in advance of tax-rate hikes next year.

Forget about waiting for companies to announce special or accelerated dividends ahead of next year's rising dividend tax rate. The options market is paying its own form of special dividends to nimble investors.

By selling puts on stocks that have declared accelerated dividends, like Oracle (ticker: ORCL), or on stocks that might pay special one-time dividends like CME Group (CME), investors can pocket some money from the options...